I was able to get the 100th round of the year in this week as temperatures were in the 50’s on Wednesday and we went to Fort Cherry where I managed a 77 despite the two week lay off. I hit my irons really well , hitting 12 greens in regulation. I had 3 really bad holes, all double bogeys leading to the 7 over par round. It was a very good day and very glad to get that even 100th round.

Today’s blog will deal with the third A of the mental A’s of golf, a positive one, Awareness. I am going to leave Anxiety last as it is the most complex and there is some research to be done.

Let’s get the easy awareness out of the way first and that is being aware of your surroundings and the things that are going to affect the results of your shots. This is the easiest to explain but sometimes not the easiest to do. When you get on the golf course you must be aware of the wind, that can be ever changing, the hazards of the hole, the condition of the course and the qualities of the greens. Some days you will be better at this than others, but as I say you just can’t fall asleep out there. Sometimes lack of course knowledge can get you into trouble. The bottom line, the faster you get in touch with your surroundings the better your score will be. There are no secrets to this, you just have to do it. In future blogs I will discuss some problems and ways to hopefully get better at being aware of your surroundings.

The second awareness is much more tricky. That is the awareness of what your body is doing, when you are approaching a shot, addressing the shot. and playing the shot. This is where the famous mind body connection comes into play. In other words there can be times that you are too aware of what your body is doing during the execution of a shot. The old paralysis by analysis syndrome. The old what am I doing wrong syndrome. However, if you are not aware that you are aiming 20 yards right, or some other address problem, or not swinging the way you think you are swinging, then your chances of hitting a good shot are pretty slim. This will be another subject to cover in more detail in a future blog. One way of saying this is, that you want to be aware of what you are doing but not conscious of what you are doing. Like I said, this is real tricky. This could be one of the big keys to the answer to this goofy game.

Next week the blog will be coming from San Diego, where I will be celebrating the holidays with those dear grand kids. Next week the subject will be my take on those dreaded YIPS. See you then.